O’Fallon Approves Drafting Shared Road Maintenance Agreement With Lake Saint Louis

O’Fallon City Council unanimously approved drafting an agreement with Lake St. Louis, regarding a shared road maintenance cost at Thursday’s workshop.

As Patch previously reported, a developer with a contract on a piece of property south of Highway N has plans to build a Menards home improvement store.

The actual store would sit in O'Fallon, but Lake Saint Louis will maintain Orf Road and Old Highway N, that will service the retail development, as well as the outlots.

The Lake Saint Louis Board of Alderman voted unanimously on Monday April 2, to bring a shared road maintenance plan to O’Fallon City Council.  

The plan proposes O'Fallon pay the maintenance cost of Orf Road and Old Highway N, until the property and sales tax revenue from the development of the outlots equals the cost of the annual maintenance. At that time, O'Fallon's contribution to the street maintenance would end.

Mayor Bill Hennessy said this cost per year is estimated to be around $30,000 for concrete and $20,000 for asphalt.

O’Fallon City Administrator Keith Riesberg said both O’Fallon and Lake Saint Louis public works directors have discussed cost per lane mile, but have not seen a finalized conceptual plan.

Ward 2 Councilman Jim Pepper asked if the shared cost maintenance included constructing a new road.

Director of Public Works Steve Bender said the developer will rebuild the road along with the rest of the project construction.

Riesberg added that the developer is responsible for constructing the roads to city standards. The city maintenance accounts for preventative maintenance, anticipated upgrades and services like snow plowing.

Pepper asked what the expectation level of the road life would be.

Bender said concrete streets have around 30-35 years of useful life, adding the numbers are based on the calculated life cycle of the pavement.

Ward 4 Councilman Jeff Schwentker said he thought the cost including the sales and property tax seemed feasible.

He added he thinks Menards will actively push to develop the outlots because it’s better for their business, and Lake Saint Louis will because it’s more revenue for them. 

“I’d like to see us go into an agreement with Lake Saint Louis, because we’re on a tight time frame because Menards wants a July date to break ground, so I think we should go into negotiations at this price,” he said.

Ward 2 Councilwoman Rose Mack asked when the city would begin putting money into the project and Mayor Hennessy said hopefully never.

“When the big-box store comes in, hopefully the outlots come in at the same time, that’s what I’m hoping for,” he said.

The first plan for the development, proposing the cities , was unfavorable with O'Fallon City Council.

Council voted to approve negotiations on development of the joint property with Lake Saint Louis, but discouraged staff from including revenue sharing as a part of the draft of the agreement during their March 22 meeting.

Schwentker said he thinks the addition of the property tax in the maintenance sharing will help ensure the revenue from the outlots equals the cost of the annual maintenance much sooner.

The council’s vote to move forward with the maintenance cost agreements at Thursday’s meeting is one step closer to an overall agreement approved by both cities for the development.

Riesberg said the maintenance component will be added into the drafting of an intergovernmental agreement, which will also  spell out how staff will coordinate storm water, signage, traffic management and other aspects of development.